


You Successfully Seduce the Dragon

by Goodluckdetective (scorpiontales)



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-07 16:01:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4269447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorpiontales/pseuds/Goodluckdetective
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim plays Dungeons and Dragons with the Core Four and Cassandra picks up some tricks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Successfully Seduce the Dragon

     Cassandra officially learned about Dungeons and Dragons from living with Tim.

      She’d heard of it beforehand, back when she considered her only name to be Batgirl, and her life goal to be the mission. Hanging out with Robin for extended periods of time made it impossible to remain entirely oblivious. When they would linger on the rafters of buildings, and perch on fire escapes in empty alleys, Tim would often talk about his campaigns to her, in order to break the silence. Cassandra couldn’t make much of most of it, she couldn’t envision the smaller teenager fighting a dragon with a sword without her noticing, but his stories tended to be entertaining given Tim’s propensity for hand gestures.

     Stephanie would be the one to clarify it was a game.

     “It’s a role playing game,” Stephanie had said, sitting on one of Cassandra’ benches after one of their training sessions. “You pretend you're someone else, and you go on adventures.” She had stretched out her arm, trying to pop one of her joints back into place. “It’s pretty nerdy.”

     “Nerdy?” It was the first time Cassandra had heard the word. Stephanie had just grinned at her.

     “It’s very Tim.”

     Then Stephanie had died. And Cassandra found herself living in Blüdhaven with a lost Tim Drake, and an apartment too far away from Oracle.

     To say it was a big adjustment was an understatement. Cassandra, far too used to living by herself, was a stranger to sharing groceries, rooms, and a shower. Hearing Tim’s footsteps around the apartment put her on edge for those first two weeks. Seeing Tim bent over to clutch at his side every morning, like he was holding himself together, put her at a loss. She didn’t know how to deal with this version of her friend, this version who was lost, hurting, and so very scared.

     So when she came home one night to hear Tim laughing, honest to God laughing, she was thrown rather off guard.

     She walked up the stairs, keeping a steady grip on the bag of groceries she had picked up from the store (a gallon of milk, two boxes of cereal, and no fruit whatsoever). It was easy to open the door with one hand, and when she did, it opened with a slow creak. At the dining room table was Tim, dressed in civies, with a large piece of white cardboard placed in front of him. In the three extra seats were some teenagers Cassandra recognized as the Titans; Cassie, Kon and Bart. They didn’t seem to notice Cassandra’s entrance, too busy talking among themselves.  

      “You approach the cave entrance,” Tim said in a voice Cassandra had never heard him use before. It sounded like a poor impersonation of the announcers Cassandra had heard on television. He raised both of his arms up and waggled his fingers. “On each side of the cave is a torch, but only one is lit. What do you do?”  
Cassie was the one who spoke first. “I walk up an inch from the cave and check for traps.” She let go of Kon’s hand to grab the die in the center of the table. It was bright red and had more sides than Cassandra had seen on any die before. She gave it a roll, and it landed face up on 14. Tim looked at the score and nodded.

     “Given your wisdom bonus, you find a string at the entrance of the torch that will fire arrows if tripped.” Cassie fist pumped and Bart held up his hand for a high five, which she quickly took. Tim turned to Kon. “Spartacus? What’s your next move?”  
Kon placed his hands on his waist, puffing out his chest. It took all Cassandra had not to giggle. Kon’s tendency for dramatics was one of the things she liked most about him. It had been enough to pull her into a retroactively embarrassing crush.  He’d grown out of it a little since then, but the farm boy still had a spark of the theatric.

     “I enter the cave, taking care to not trip the wires,” he said, in an accent that sounded like a poor impression of the British and the Welsh. Bart almost spat out his soda at that, and Cassandra didn’t miss the large grin that crossed Tim’s face. It was the first she’d seen in a long time. Kon reached forward for the same die.

     “No telekinesis, Kon,” Tim said, glaring at his friend from over the cardboard. “Cheaters never prosper.”

     Kon grinned, winking at Tim. “Only when they’re caught. Don’t worry Rob,” he said letting the die fall. “I don’t need luck.” The die hit the table top with a small clank, rolling a little before settling on a two. Kon swore while Tim picked up a six sided die.

     “You trip the wire and are hit by-” He rolled the die which landed on a six. “Six arrows, taking 12 damage.” Tim winked back at Kon. “The goblin lord mocks your failure.”

     “Come’ on!”

     “This is why we need to make friends with a cleric,” Bart muttered from his side of the table. He was on his fourth can of orange soda.

    Cassandra walked towards the table. All four of the teenagers looked up at her, Kon almost falling out his chair from surprise. Cassie caught the chair leg to keep him from tumbling to the floor.

     “Hey Batgirl,” Kon said, hanging between the floor and the table. “How’s it going?”

     Cassandra placed her groceries on the floor, stepping close to the table. She could see each of the Titans had a sheet of paper in front of them, covered in words that Cassandra couldn’t read. She felt the echo of the word “stupid” ring in her head, Barbara’s voice, and shoved it away. She couldn’t linger on that. “What are you playing?”

     “Dungeons and Dragons,” Bart said, taking his last gulp from his current soda can. He still talked too fast, and Cassandra had to strain to pick up all of his words. She wondered if everyone else had as much trouble understanding it. “You hear of it?”

     “Yeah. Stephanie-” She cut off, the image of the blonde smiling in the back of her head, then the same image of that blond still in a coffin. No one at the table missed Tim’s wince. Cassandra closed her eyes for a second, willing only the smiling image back, and opened them again. “Stephanie told me.” She reached for the chair in front of her. “Can I play?”

     Everyone looked at her with varying degrees of surprise. Bart stopped vibrating in his seat. “You want to play DnD?”

     Cassandra shrugged. “Looks...fun.” She then looked down to the character sheets and her frown deepened. “I can’t...if I need to read.”

     “No, no, it’s not a problem.” Cassie had jumped out of her own seat to place her hand on Cassandra’s shoulder and Cassandra found herself very thankful for the blonde’s presence. “Tim has extra character sheets on him, don’t you Tim?”

      Tim snapped out of his trance, scrambling for his pile of papers. “Uh yeah, I do.” He pulled one out at random and read the title. “I have one for Ivy, the Elf Cleric.”

     “Sounds great.” Cassie said, plucking the sheet out of Tim’s hands. She placed it in Cassandra’s instead.  “I can read you what you need to know Cassandra, and help you out since you’re new.” She turned back to the table as a whole, crossing her arms, radiating the spirit of her mentor. “That good, everyone?”

      “You bet it is!” Kon said, pushing himself forward so that all four of his chair legs were firmly on the ground. “I’m in dire condition here, man. I could use a healer.”

     The rest of the game didn’t go quick or smooth. It took time to explain to Cassandra the world of fantasy, and how to play the game. However, as turns rolled on, Cassandra began to pick up quicker and quicker. The quest began to get more and more exciting. She found herself invested in her elf character.

     “A dragon is blocking your way,” Tim said, using the same ridiculous voice he’d been utilizing when Cassandra walked in. “How do you proceed?”

     Cassandra looked down at her character sheet. She could only read the numbers, but she’d memorized the locations of each of her stats to make it easier to work with. She could try knocking out the dragon with a sleep spell. Or she could attack it straight on with a fire spell. Or maybe-

     “Team.” Bart stood up, his chair clattering to the ground behind him. He reached for his head like her was wearing a hat, and then pressed his hand to his heart. “I will take on this mission.” He turned to Tim and took a deep breath. “I attempt to seduce the dragon.”

     The milk under the table remained forgotten as they laughed for the next five minutes.

 

**  
**  



End file.
